The making and unmaking of gendered crops in northern Ghana

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Abstract

This article is the result of comparative case studies of Dagomba and Kusasi people in Ghana. The study looks at gendered responsibilities and access to the cultivation of crops and how these factors are related to what is considered to be a proper meal, and the gendered categories of food. In West Africa there are foods considered to be male foods and female foods. These categories are linked and express cultural obligations, but also influence the assigning of crops by a specific gender. The gender categories of foods suffers some changes with the introduction of new varieties of crops such as soy and the introductions of new technologies. These new foods undergo a process of negation before the new meaning is attached, therefore making and unmaking gendered crops.